7 Truths: Portugal dangerous, let Lewandowski be Lewandowski

Portugal are yet to win a game inside 90 minutes at the Euros. Yet, they are in the quarter-finals. Up next, a Poland side who are struggling to find the back of the net. Cristiano Ronaldo and co are yet to ‘click’ but there has definitely been an improvement game on game.

They have not been great and that is largely because they are not great. But – and it is a big but – they have Ronaldo. Add into the mix the fact that they also have been – bar the anomaly that was the Hungary game – pretty solid at the back, and they are starting to look like credible contenders.

They have just disposed or perennial dark horses Croatia, too.

Poland did not need Robert Lewandowski to score in the group stages: they kept three clean sheets and nicked two goals across two matches to make it through to the last 16. But the knockout stages are rather more exacting and a tense penalty shoot-out win over Switzerland suggests Poland need their attacking talisman – and the top scorer in qualifying – to hurry up and join the party at Euro 2016, or they could be going home at the quarter-final stage.

Lewandowski’s goal drought now extends beyond 10 hours for his country after he failed to hit the back of the net again in Saint Etienne, and didn't even come particularly close. He has been playing what coach Adam Nawalka described as a “new role” recently – a slightly more withdrawn No. 10 position, making space for Arkadiusz Milik – but if Poland want to give themselves a real chance of winning this competition – and it is not out of the question – they need to unleash their best player. Portugal await in the quarter-finals; a single goal is unlikely to be enough.

The temptation was overwhelming. Here was Arsenal’s big new signing – a £35 million capture from Borussia Monchengladbach – bottling it on the big stage. The awful penalty which Granit Xhaka smashed miles off target will haunt the young midfielder for some time: the only aberration in an otherwise spotless shootout, it eliminated Switzerland from Euro 2016 and denied them a first ever quarter-final in this competition. He crumbled when pressure was applied: the perfect recruit for Arsene Wenger, then?

It was a point made gleefully on social media by Tottenham fans – but beyond this admittedly catastrophic moment, the story of his Euro 2016 has been rather different. Named man of the match in both of Switzerland’s two opening games, against Albania and Romania, he has impressed with his prolific passing, both short and long-range, as well as showing some of the combative spirit that Arsenal want in midfield. This was not his finest hour, but the tournament as a whole suggests his greatest achievements are ahead of him.

A list of the clubs represented by the 22 starters:

West Brom x3
Reading x2
Crystal Palace x2
Swansea x2
Hamilton Academical
Southampton
Norwich
Blackburn
Leeds
Unattached
Nottingham Forest
Watford
West Brom
Tottenham
Liverpool
Arsenal
Burnley
Real Madrid

Not that surprising, really.

The mantle of favouritism did not sit well with a Welsh team accustomed to defying the odds. Yes, they took care of business against Slovakia and Russia, but here they looked uneasy and unsure how to break Northern Ireland down.

Wales’s two key men always get plenty of licence to roam, but with Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey effectively in free roles the team lacked cohesion.

Should Belgium await in the last eight, they will have a better platform to launch fast attacks against a side they beat in qualifying.

It seems inelegant to point out that Northern Ireland have contributed much more off the pitch than on it, but you cannot escape the limitations of Michael O’Neill’s side.

No shame in it – quite the opposite, in fact. They did superbly to reach the continent’s last 16, but they could not defy gravity forever.

Their fans were a joy, and their unused striker is somehow one of the men of the tournament – but this feels like the right time for it to end.

Croatia, as mentioned above, seem to be perennial dark horses and, having beaten Spain to top Group D, this looked to be their best hope of fulfilling that title. However, with their very own golden generation edging towards or already into their thirties, the Euros of 2016 could be the last time in quite a while that Croatia are in a position to seriously threaten the business end of a tournament.

They had manoeuvred into the ‘weaker’ side of the draw and had played some excellent football, so the loss to Portugal feels like a huge opportunity missed.